Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter has had it with a cop-bashing painting displayed in the Capitol so he took it down! He took the controversial painting to Dem Congressman Lacy Clay’s office. We say BRAVO!

Clay had this to say about the painting a few months ago:

When the winning piece was chosen last spring, Clay told the St. Louis American that he considered it “the most creative expression that I’ve witnessed in the last 16 years” of the competition. -SLPD

Here’s the story on how this painting got to the Capitol building:

The piece of art depicts cops as animals killing minorities and has no business hanging in our US Capitol building…

Artistic expression, or one congressman’s political statement masquerading as “student art?”

A very offensive depiction of police hands in the U.S. Capitol complex, and Missouri Rep. William Lacy Clay is drawing heat for placing it there.

For several months the painting, called “Untitled #1,” has hung in the House building connecting hall, depicting police as animals seemingly engaged in the act of brutalizing minorities. -BPR

In February 2015, Democratic Congressman Clay suggested that prosecutors are responsible for fixing outcome of racially charged cases that involve cops when he claimed that in Ferguson and in Garner’s death “we saw an all-too-familiar pattern of local prosecutors who work hand-in-hand with police every day, essentially prewiring the grand jury process to produce a known outcome.”

In a released statement, Clay said, “Members of Congress support student art competitions in our districts but we do not select the young artists and we do not judge the artwork. I had no role in selecting the winner of this student art competition and I would never attempt to approve or disapprove artistic expression. The U.S. Capitol is a symbol of freedom, not censorship. The young artist chose his own subject and the painting will not be removed.”

He also told the St. Louis Post Dispatch that the painting was “the most creative expression that I’ve witnessed in the last 16 years.”

Joe Patterson, president of the St. Louis County Police Association, said that “we are not about censorship, but good art and good taste are sometimes not the same thing.”

“This is an extraordinarily disrespectful piece at a minimum,” he said.

“We in the law enforcement community have been continuing to work to build bridges and come to a better understanding with our minority community…and then we have irresponsible leadership from elected officials pouring gasoline on bridges haven’t even finished being built yet,” Patterson said of Clay. “He’s picking at these wounds that we’re trying to heal.”

When the winning piece was chosen last spring, Clay told the St. Louis American that he considered it “the most creative expression that I’ve witnessed in the last 16 years” of the competition.